Learning how to play blues guitar isn’t tough if you have a solid beginner guitar foundation (i.e. Chords, strumming, notes on each string and some simple theory). I’m going to quickly cover the basics you should learn when learning to play blues guitar and also provide you with a couple of options where you can learn these blues techniques.
All beginner blues players must first learn the form of 99% of all blues songs. The 12 bar blues is a 12 measure pattern that most blues songs follow and isn’t tough to learn. If you have some basic chord, scale and theory knowledge that is an asset and will help you learn it even faster.
For beginners this process probably takes a week or two to master the 12 bar blues in several different keys.
After that you’re actually playing blues guitar, but it won’t sound all that bluesy yet.
Next you’ll want to learn some 7th chords. These are a variation on major and minor chords and sound a lot more bluesy then when you play blues guitar with major and minor chords.
This again will likely take a week or two to get under your fingers but then you’ll be well on your way to how to play blues guitar.
You’ve got four choices to learn blues guitar. The first is private lessons, this is pretty straight forward and can get expensive and time consuming so few adults tend to go this route.
Next there are free videos available online. These are a great resource to get your feet wet but they’re not a solid method of learning to play blues guitar. The lesson quality and teachers are sometimes questionable. It’s a better option to purchase a professional instructors blues guitar dvd or enrol for online blues guitar lessons.
I’ve been using Legacy Learning Systems, Blues Guitar Spotlight course for the past few weeks and I have to say it’s bar none the best method of playing blues guitar I’ve found yet.
Course instructor, Steve Krenz, is professional, knowledgeable and soft spoken. He’s also the author and instructor of their award winning beginner guitar course Learn & Master Guitar.
The course includes 6 DVDs, 1 CD and a lesson book. The course covers all the beginner topics I mentioned above as well as more advanced concepts like soloing, scales, more blues chords and improvising.
If you really want to learn how to play blues guitar this is your best option to learn at home and for a fraction the cost of private lessons.